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Heidi Stevens: Gutting special education services is a betrayal of conservative ideals and our collective values
Maybe you saw the Trump administration just quietly gutted the office that oversees special education services and funding.
Maybe you didn’t. There’s a lot to keep track of right now.
All but a handful of staff were laid off from the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which oversees ...Read more

Light boxes, braille writers and smell: How this child care center serves visually impaired kids
LOS ANGELES -- In Saul Valdivia's preschool classroom, a neon green light emanates from underneath the opaque surface of a wooden table. An assortment of plastic bugs and wooden shapes lay scattered across its surface. This light box learning tool uses contrasts to help encourage young kids with impaired vision develop awareness of objects, ...Read more

Why brittle bones aren't just a woman's problem
Ronald Klein was biking around his neighborhood in North Wales, Pennsylvania, in 2006 and tried to jump a curb. “But I was going too slow — I didn’t have enough momentum,” he recalled.
As the bike toppled, he thrust out his left arm to break the fall. It didn’t seem like a serious accident, yet “I couldn’t get up,” he said.
At ...Read more

Heidi Stevens: Gutting special education services is a betrayal of conservative ideals and our collective values
Maybe you saw the Trump administration just quietly gutted the office that oversees special education services and funding.
Maybe you didn’t. There’s a lot to keep track of right now.
All but a handful of staff were laid off from the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which oversees ...Read more

This 'The Bear'-esque dining experience puts you in the center of the kitchen chaos
LOS ANGELES -- Most fine-dining experiences want to remove the chaos, aiming to create a seamlessly elegant night out. "Family Meal," however, wants to lay it on.
We had been told we are here to attend a retirement party of sorts, one final meal from an acclaimed chef before he hands over his 26-year-old restaurant. What unfolds is a battle ...Read more

On Gardening: A 'Heart' for a river of caladiums
The past two years, have seen rainstorms that were real gully washers at my house in West Georgia. Consequently, my dry creek area with daylilies saw the rocks moving downhill. But the water movement opened the door for one of the most enjoyable gardening projects in years.
The storms created a winding path for water to relocate to the street. ...Read more

When human bones turn up in South Florida, this professor and her students get the call
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The discovery of what appeared to be a human femur and pelvic bone might have unnerved the construction workers who unearthed them near Lake Worth Beach last week, but for Dr. Heather Walsh-Haney and her students, it was just an average Monday.
The forensic anthropologist and Florida Gulf Coast University professor is ...Read more

Known for its creepy dolls, this museum expands macabre offerings
ROCHESTER, Minn. – They’re setting the dolls loose.
Dozens of time-worn dolls and children’s toys adorn the walls, hang from the ceiling and stare up from the floor, some in faded dollhouses more than a century old.
The History Center of Olmsted County’s Creepy Dolls collection — which since 2019 has drawn international attention ...Read more

You're debt-free, now what? Turn your money habits into financial freedom for life
Congratulations! Becoming debt-free is a game-changer. Making that last payment on credit cards, student loans or whatever debt burden you carried must have been a huge weight off your shoulders. After having paid off $300,000 of debt, I know that feeling well. But when the celebratory vibes wear off and the weight is lifted, what comes next?
...Read more

Ask Anna: When is love not enough to make a lasting relationship?
Dear Anna,
I’m 27 and have been with my boyfriend (29) for almost three years. We care about each other deeply, but lately I’ve started to notice how different we are in our day-to-day lives. I’m someone who likes structure — I meal prep, budget and plan things out weeks in advance. He’s more of a “let’s see what happens” kind ...Read more

He ran 1,100 miles, through all 169 towns in Connecticut, to help sick children
HARTFORD, Conn. -- For most of the runners at the Eversource Hartford Marathon, Saturday’s race was the culmination of months of grueling training — an odyssey that would test their will and endurance, and provide immense personal satisfaction at the finish line.
For Shan Riggs, this was a cool down.
Riggs, 46, just finished running more ...Read more

Inside a world of upscale pet bakeries that specialize in birthday cakes for dogs
PHILADELPHIA -- Every evening after Steph Johnson drives home from work, she spends roughly five hours baking in her kitchen. As Taylor Swift plays on loop, Johnson pipes ruffles onto tiers of "Bluey" and Batman-inspired birthday cakes and frosts sheets of shortbread cookies molded into tiaras, ice cream cones, and Swoop, the Eagles mascot.
But...Read more

Mahjong mania: 'It's catching on a lot'
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings had just kicked off when a dozen people ordered beers and commandeered a few tables at a local brewery on a recent Sunday. While football played on the screens above them, over the next three hours, they cheered and laughed and even swore a bit.
And they didn’t look at the game once. They were focused on ...Read more

Ex-etiquette: A trick or a treat?
Q. I am the proud mom of two very active boys and a 3-year-old little girl. They all tell me they want to trick-or-treat with their father and me, but we have been separated for almost two years now. We live close by, and I’m willing to try, but I have to admit, just thinking about it gives me anxiety. It sounds like a great idea, but a lot to...Read more

Lori Borgman: No time like the present or past or future, whatever
Because I love, love, love saving time, I am looking forward to the first weekend in November when the entire nation will save 60 minutes — not the Sunday night news program but an hour on the clock.
Of course, nobody likes to mention the fact that the only reason we are “saving” an hour is because an hour was stolen from us in the spring...Read more

Majestic wild horses are trampling Mono Lake's otherworldly landscape. The feds plan a roundup
LOS ANGELES -- Several dozen horses calmly graze along the shores of Mono Lake, a sparkling saline expanse spread out before the jagged Sierra Nevada mountains. The September sun is blazing. A pair of brown horses come up side by side and stare intensely at an approaching visitor.
These wild equines soon may disappear from beside the ancient ...Read more

The Kid Whisperer: How to make your kids cry
Dear Kid Whisperer,
I have two school-aged boys and I have a 38-month-old little girl. My question is about my daughter. With my sons, usually if they cried, and I gave them what they wanted, they’d stop crying and that would be the end. When I give my daughter what she wants, she will only stop crying or whining briefly before she’s off to...Read more

Signs of dyslexia and reading troubles can be spotted in kindergarten -- or even preschool
LOS ANGELES — This year, for the first time, California schools will be screening kindergarteners, first- and second-graders for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, under a state mandate signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023.
Such early identification of reading struggles is key to getting young children the needed interventions ...Read more

Jerry Zezima: Going, going, not yet gone
I would say that my wife and I have an open door policy in our house, but it takes us so long to leave the premises that we have to close the door or flies will get in.
No matter where we are going, either together or separately, we need a list of things to remember or it will take us more time to go out than it will to come back.
Here is the ...Read more

He was a TV writer. Now he 'tattoos' mugs and teaches others how to make their own
LOS ANGELES -- Steve Stringer works his dream job out of a shed in Melrose Hill.
The 500-square-foot outbuilding wasn't where Stringer, an L.A.-based ceramicist, imagined setting up shop. The day he found it, he was touring a neighboring Western Avenue property. When that space turned out to be too big for an art studio, the landlord told ...Read more